I have several art quilts that I have entered in shows that are sitting in the closet. I needed that space, but also thought it would be nice to be able to see them. They all have sleeves. I researched how to hang them and decided on this solution. I bought some dowels. They were a bit long so Dave cut them down for me. He added those screw eyes on the ends. So here is how they look on the pieces. Usually the sleeves are one piece, but this particular show required them to be two pieces. The screw eyes hang just out of the sleeve and behind the quilt. Then I hammered two nails that the screw ..read more

A friend of mine lost her husband awhile back. Rick loved wearing flannel shirts so I told her I’d be happy to make her family pillows with his shirts. It took her awhile, but recently she gave me his favorite shirt to make her a special pillow. Like other “precious” fabric, his favorite flannel shirt sat on my shelf for several weeks until I got up the courage to cut into it! I started by cutting off the sleeves. Now I could pretend that it was just a piece of fabric, not his favorite shirt! Since I was making this into a 16-inch pillow, I cut the shirt into a 17-inch square. I’ve cut both ..read more

Last summer I had so much fun printing with daisies. I finally got around to framing a piece which will hang in our newly renovated bathroom. To see how I printed these daisies check out this tutorial. In that link you will see my YouTube video on how to print with daisies. After printing on white fabric, I add stabilizer, and then sew around before I cut them out and add to my project. Next I needed to find a fabric for the background. I have lots of my dyed fabric, so I decided on this one. I used variegated thread to sew straight lines. I added several of the daisies to the background pi ..read more

I really like making appliques or embellishments to add to my art, especially cards. In the past, I’ve made them from photos and clipart you can see here. I’ve also made them from rubber stamped images here. Of course, I’ve made them from leaf prints here. But not from stencils until now! I am making these to add to those 40 flags I’m making for Project 2050. I started by stenciling on fabric what I thought would make a good applique. I allow for plenty of space between images making the sewing easier. Once the fabric was dry, I ironed it to heat set the paint. Then I ironed on the Woven Fu ..read more

While we’re on vacation we love checking out the local art at art fairs and farmers’ markets. Today I wanted to share a couple of the places we enjoyed on our recent trip to Hawaii. What a surprise when I found out that we’d be in Kona during the Kona Art Crawl. Of course, this was no surprise to Dave; he had planned it that way!! We always try to catch art fairs when we travel, and this is one of our favorites. The last time we were here several years ago it was so hot. This day the weather was perfect. In addition to all of the art, you could hear music up and down the street. We enjoye ..read more

Since my last post I’ve finished three projects, and worked on a couple more. Every year I create something for the SAQA Spotlight Auction. It’s a small piece (6 by 8 inches) and will be put in a frame so the edges won’t show. I just left my edges raw.  It’s a piece of canvas I printed with wood blocks several years ago. I decided to stitch the spirals with orange thread to bring them out. I left the rest of the fabric without any stitches. I called it Spiraling. It reminds me that life will be going on fine and then some events or encounters will take over and send us spiraling in anothe ..read more

I love Jacquard Dye-na-Flow. If you don’t want to mess with dyeing, it’s the perfect substitute. I love to dye, but when I need color on my fabric quick, this is my go-to. Over the years I’ve done quite a bit of sun printing. I’ve always liked to use Setacolor lights, but in 2021 I decided I’d compare them to Dye-na-Flow. You can read my post here. That test really helped me to see the actual difference between the two. They both work great and it depends on what you effect you are looking for, but when all is said and done, Dye-na-Flow is my favorite for sun printing. But it’s not just for ..read more

If you read the last post you know that I bought some paint while in Hawaii to play with while on vacation. I’ve always admired these Monarch Ferns. I love the little spots on the leaves. I asked several people what they were, and the response I got was that they were weeds that they grow up through the lava flow. Well, weeds or not, I love them. Before we left I packed everything I needed to print leaves except for the paint. I had mixed up some paint to take with me, but decided it was too risky to put it in my luggage. Here is my “kit.” The red thing is a stamp pad which I had to cut up to ..read more

We recently returned from a trip to the Big Island. When we travel to Hawaii if I bring any art supplies it’s something small like watercolors or hand stitching. This year I wanted to print some leaves that I love seeing in this area. I gathered all of my supplies and decided to pack everything except for the textile paints.  I found that Akamai Art Supply had the paint I needed so when we arrived in Kona I visited this shop. It was a small shop, but it was packed with about any art supply you could want. Shirley Spencer and Johanna Wiseman are both the owners and Certified Art Materials ..read more

Happy New Year! This year I decided to make a visual 2024 to-do list via my blog. A couple are due this month! First off is a joint project Dave and I started over seven years ago. It’s a scene from the condo we rented in Kona, Hawaii back then. I’m working on the palm trees. He also has another joint project in mind that will involve me making this little critter out of fabric. I’ve not yet finished the small quilts that will hang over our tub in our newly renovated master bath. Here are just some of the parts of that project that have been hanging on my design wall for months! I really wa ..read more